Gains for forests and freshwater protection in Russia

Creation in April of a 318,000 ha buffer zone for Russia’s Sokhindinsky Biosphere Nature Reserve is the final piece in a mosaic of protected areas (PAs) securing the sources of the Amur River, a WWF conservation priority. The buffer zone forms a 115 km wildlife corridor along the Russia- Mongolia border, linking several PAs, and enables the establishment of a 950,000 ha transboundary PA.
And a 200,000 ha PA in Russia’s Onega Peninsula in the White Sea helps secure both a high conservation value forest, and the traditional lifestyles of coast dwellers. In 2005, WWF helped a civil society coalition campaign prevent a proposed road destroying 25,000 ha of the forest.